


Unexpected Allies

by captainmazzic (lordtarantula)



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen, Nobody Dies, Not Canon Compliant, fix-it AU, pure unadulterated wish fulfillment, there is no romance in this I just want weird family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 18:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12636504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordtarantula/pseuds/captainmazzic
Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has left Tatooine in pursuit of a rumor, but he stumbles across unexpected survivors of the transition from Republic to Empire.





	Unexpected Allies

“I left Tatooine for _this?”_ Kenobi muttered to himself for the fourth time since he had surreptitiously landed on Abregado-rae, hell bent on discovering more information on the mysterious giant metal saboteur he’d been hearing about.

He had tried to keep as many contacts as he could when he had gone into hiding, to still keep as close an eye as he was able on what was happening in the galaxy. Or rather, in the new Galactic Empire. It had been difficult – impossible, sometimes – to gain any information worth knowing. But word had come to him of some sort of rogue droid that had been spotted on a scattering of less-affluent Core Worlds, making hit-and-runs against pockets of Imperial forces before vanishing without hardly a trace. But there had been some sort of trail to follow, albeit a faint and contorted one. It had taken all of Kenobi’s focus in the Force to have tracked the droid this far, but all his efforts had been rewarded with so far was the hot pursuit of what he could swear was half the local garrison.

Another squad of stormtroopers was gaining on him, and he ducked around the corner of an alleyway to give himself some cover. Returning their fire with intermittent bursts of his own, he was just about to jump closer into the fray when a flash of green and brown flitted at the corner of his vision.

He turned just in time to see what looked like a tiny Rodian in Jedi robes dart across the way. Startled at the unexpected sight, he reached out a hand and called. “Wait!”

She either did not hear him, or was so intent on where she was going that she paid him no heed. Another volley of enemy fire wrenched his attention away, and he resorted to shoving the stormtrooper squad back with the Force. It gave him enough of an opening to rush down the alley in pursuit of the little Rodian, and he charged down the narrow strip of street. He caught sight of her slowing down around the next corner, and again he called out. “Wait, stop!”

Before he could tell whether she would acknowledge him this time, a massive shape harsh with metal angles and a death’s-head face lurched up from behind the adjacent building and loomed over the tiny Rodian.

Kenobi’s eyes grew wide in disbelief. _“Grievous?_ How is that even – little one, _run!”_ He charged in head-on, drawing the lightsaber that he had been loath to use ever since he had gone into hiding on Tatooine. “I said _run!”_

His lightsaber met two of Grievous’s own, and the clash and crackle of their blades echoed in the narrow confines of the alley. The light reflected in the bloodshot yellow eyes of Kenobi’s opponent, making him marvel even as he grinned up into his old nemesis’s metal face. “I thought I had killed you back on Utapau.”

That familiar disdainful chuckle rose from Grievous’s chest. “Very nearly, Kenobi. But I am made of stronger stuff than that.”

“Evidently.” He parried a thrust and met it with with an attack of his own, but his attention was drawn to the little Rodian lingering under the eave of the opposite building, off to the side and clutching her hands together.

“It’s not safe here, little one,” Kenobi called, trying to keep his voice soft even as he battled Grievous for dominance in their duel. “You need to run away. Don’t worry, I’ve killed this one once before and I can do it again – hopefully more permanently this time.”

Her wide compound eyes flicked from Kenobi to Grievous, and one hand twitched down to what was surely a lightsaber at her side.

He was just about to tell her that he needed no help, but Grievous snarled over him at the little Rodian. “You stay out of this!”

Kenobi found himself nearly overwhelmed with a series of fast and hard strikes from Grievous’s lightsabers. He lost ground, and within moments Grievous almost had him overpowered. His back was to the wall, and just as he was beginning to wonder if he had run out of moves to make, the sound of blaster fire echoed in his ears.

The Imperials had found them. A wave of stormtroopers swooped into the alley from the way Kenobi had come, and their blaster bolts were aimed not only at him but at Grievous as well.

Grievous shielded his head with an arm as he deflected their fire with his lightsabers, Kenobi doing the same thing beside him. When he saw the briefest of openings he ducked toward the narrow street’s corner, beckoning and calling out to the Rodian once again. “We have to flee, little one! Come with me!”

But she hesitated, and in that moment of hesitation Grievous turned towards their only escape route. As he deactivated his lightsabers one of his arms split in two, and he opened it wide. “Ganodi!”

Kenobi’s mouth dropped open as the little Rodian Jedi ran straight to Grievous, letting him scoop her up in his arm. They turned and fled.

But there was only one direction to run, and Kenobi found himself following hard on Grievous’s heels as they escaped their Imperial pursuers. He could hear Ganodi pleading with Grievous as he ran. “We have to take him with us! He’ll die out here!”

Grievous rumbled at that. “I am _not_ saving a _Jedi!”_

“But you saved _me!”_

A vicious snarl came from Grievous, but instead of harming the child he suddenly lurched to the side and grabbed Kenobi by the collar of his robes. He made a hard turn to the left, hauling Kenobi with them. “Don’t say I never did anything for you, Kenobi!”

Before he could come up with a retort, they had rounded the corner and screeched to a halt in front of a small, sleek reconnaissance ship. It had seen better days, but Kenobi could tell just from a glance that it had been not only well used but also well cared for and more than likely in top working condition.

A wave from Ganodi’s hands and the boarding ramp came down, and without a moment’s hesitation Grievous rushed inside with Kenobi still in tow. As soon as they were inside he dropped Ganodi to the floor. “Get the engines running.”

She dashed off immediately, and Grievous turned to shove Kenobi to the side before pulling up the ramp and sealing the exit hatch. He slapped it shut just as Kenobi heard the roar of engines flaring to life.

Kenobi’s mind was reeling. “What in the blazes is going on?”

Grievous didn’t deign him with a response, only threw him a glare. He turned and called ahead to Ganodi. “We’re ready to go!”

The ship lurched around them as it launched into the sky, and Grievous shoved his way past Kenobi as he climbed into the cockpit. Kenobi followed. “I demand some answers! What is going on?”

He was ignored. Grievous threw himself into the pilot’s chair beside Ganodi, who was doing a pretty decent job of maneuvering despite the steep incline of their takeoff and the presence of dozens of civilian craft already in the air. A flashing light on the dashboard began to trill a warning, and Grievous took the controls from her. “Sensors registering enemy fighters approaching. TIEs. I’ll handle it from here, Ganodi.”

She merely nodded, her large eyes fixed on the half a dozen specks that were rapidly growing in size as they approached.

“Strap in.”

Ganodi leaned back in her seat, already buckled and secured. Kenobi hastily complied as the ship torqued hard to the side and twisted violently upward, avoiding the incoming enemy fire. They shot through the atmosphere at harrowing speed, dodging volleys of lasers from the screaming enemy craft as the clouds cleared to the vacuum of space. It took mere moments for Grievous to hurtle beyond the reach of the TIE fighters, managing to bypass the capital ship orbiting the planet and rocket off into hyperspace.

Ganodi slumped back in her seat and wiped sweat from her brow. “Whew! You know for a second there I thought we might not make it.”

But Grievous turned furious eyes on her. “I told you to stay in the ship!” He rose from his seat and gripped the back of her chair, his claws digging into the leather. “You could have been _killed,_ do not ever disobey me again!”

But instead of cowering, her eyes merely grew wider as she gestured back in the direction they had launched from. “But what if you needed my help? I could have –”

“ _NO!_ Do not question this!” He turned and slammed a fist into a spare compartment near the ceiling, caving it in.

But Ganodi showed no inkling of fear, only grumbled and drooped her shoulders. “Fine, fine. I’m sorry, okay?”

Kenobi couldn’t take it any more. “Will _someone_ actually tell me what the hell is going on now?”

Grievous threw him a dirty look over his shoulder, but gestured at the door. “Go on, Ganodi. Get cleaned up and get some rest. I will inform our… passenger… of what he needs to know.”

She shrugged and hopped out of her seat, giving a little wave and sheepish smile to Kenobi before she left the cockpit.

As the door slid shut behind her, Kenobi took her seat in the copilot’s chair. He swiveled it to face Grievous, who had slumped back down when Ganodi had left. He had flicked on a star map, and was taking note of coordinates.

A long silence reigned between them, and eventually Kenobi heaved a dramatic sigh. “Are you going to tell me what happened, or not? How is it you are still alive? And that little Jedi… I recognize her. She was a youngling at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. I did not think that…” and here he swallowed hard. “I did not believe anyone had survived.”

Grievous growled in the back of his metal throat, but it dissolved into a cough. He turned to open another compartment and drew out a familiar-looking black cloak, wrapping it around him as he settled back into his seat. “...On Utapau. After you thought that you had killed me, my emergency life support backup dragged me back to consciousness. I was very nearly dead, that much is true. Dessicated and burned. But I managed to pull myself into a fighter and leave the system. I retreated back to Vassek to recuperate, and it was days before I could put myself back together again in any sort of condition to return to battle.”

“Days.” Kenobi raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything more.

Grievous ignored his comment. “While I was recovering, I tried to make contact with anyone in higher command. Everything was in chaos, nothing was clear and I could not gain any concrete information regarding the state of the Separatist fleet. Or of Command in general. But I did stumble across transmissions I should not have been privy to hear.”

Kenobi leaned forward, interest sparked. “What did you hear?”

“Things that now give me a death mark on my head. I am sure _you_ are already well aware, that Chancellor Palpatine is in fact Darth Sidious.”

Kenobi nodded slowly. “A nefarious truth we learned too late, I’m afraid.”

“I discovered the link long after it would have done me any good as well,” Grievous muttered. “And now it only makes me a target that knows too much. This power structure he has created, this _Empire,_ it is still fragile, still tenuous. If the public or even just the military were to ever discover the treachery and plots that have gone on behind his carefully constructed scenes, it would shake that power structure to the core. The knowledge that I now possess could topple everything if given to the wrong hands, so now instead of being a general in his new army, I have to die. Much like you, I suppose.” He sighed. “I did not know at first that I was marked for death. Once I healed myself I made for Coruscant, and foolishly tried to contact my old master. I was shot down. My ship fell mere kilometers from the gutted husk of the Jedi Temple, and I fled the crash site as soon as I realized it hadn’t killed me.”

“All of that explains how you are alive,” Kenobi replied dryly, “though that doesn’t explain how you managed to find a young surviving member of the Jedi Order.”

Grievous coughed and growled in the back of his throat, and wrapped his cloak tighter around him. “It was pure chance. When this new enforcer of Palpatine’s – this… Darth Vader –” And it was there that Kenobi flinched, but Grievous was not paying attention. “Vader had apparently killed everyone in the temple. But Ganodi feigned her death, lying among the bodies of the fallen until she could flee the temple undetected. She had been hiding in the alleys, living on the streets of Coruscant when I found her. I was trying to find a way to get off-world after I had been shot down, and she had been trying to do the same.”

“What, and the two of you just… teamed up? Just like that?” Kenobi scoffed.

Grievous drew a fist, but stopped before he tried to strike Kenobi. “Don’t jump to conclusions. No. She recognized me from when she first saw me on Florrum. She was utterly terrified.”

“But something happened.”

“Yes.”

Kenobi raised an eyebrow, but Grievous just stared him down. Kenobi heaved another sigh. “Well are you going to tell me, or not?”

“You do not need to know every detail, Kenobi. Suffice it to say that I realized that something very strange and twisted had happened to the entire Jedi Order, and thought it would be wise to keep an eye on what I could see was one of the few surviving members of your cult. A tiny Jedi could also prove useful, I thought. It took long, but I did succeed in cajoling her to me, and eventually we managed to commandeer a ship and escape Coruscant. We have been on the run ever since.”

Kenobi sat back in his chair and nodded, eyes carefully studying Grievous. “…And it appears that you have gotten attached, in the meantime.”

Grievous rolled his eyes. “I never claimed to be heartless, Kenobi.”

Kenobi’s eyebrows shot up nearly to his hairline. “You could have fooled me. After everything that you have done –”

“Do not purport to lecture _me,_ Jedi. Of all the things _you_ had done in that war? _Please.”_

“ _You_ were the one working directly under Sidious!”

“Under deceit and lies!” Grievous rose to his feet, metal claws balled into fists. “And I needn’t remind you that it was _your_ Republic and _your_ Chancellor that has turned the galaxy into an Empire!”

“How _dare_ you insinuate that –”

The door to the cockpit slid open, and Ganodi peeked inside. Her large eyes were watery, and her lower lip quivered. “G-Greeva?”

Grievous turned and crouched down to meet her at eye level. “Did we wake you?”

She shook her head. “I h-had a n-nightmare.”

All argument forgotten for the moment, Grievous pulled her into his arms and scooped her up. He sat with her back in the pilot’s chair and turned her to face him. “What did I tell you about how we deal with nightmares?”

She rubbed at her watery eyes and sniffled. “T-that y-you can scare them away...”

“That is correct.” Grievous nodded. “Come on then, show me how you would scare them away. Show me your scariest face. Make a face like mine.”

She sniffled once again before scrunching up her face into a facsimile of a snarl. Her hands came up to make claws and she raked at the air. “Rrrr.”

Watching all of this, Kenobi’s eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets when he saw Grievous lean back to clutch at his chest. “You are almost as terrifying as me! Nightmares don’t stand a chance.”

Ganodi’s trepidation finally melted away, and she giggled. “I guess so. For now...”

Grievous reached out to pat her on her head, smoothing out her head spikes. “Do you remember what I said about the ones that don’t seem to go away?”

“Nuh uh.”

He pulled the edges of his cloak around to wrap her securely against him. “If you cannot drive them away yourself, that is why I am here. No nightmare is more frightening than Grievous.”

She nodded, apparently in full agreement. Her eyes were already drooping again. Grievous tapped her lightly on her snout. “But you must always try to conquer them yourself, first. That is how you become strong.”

She snuggled up against him, resting a tiny hand on his chest. “I wanna be strong. Like you.” She let out a cavernous yawn, and her eyes fluttered shut.

Grievous patted her shoulder and waited a few moments as she drifted back to sleep, pointedly ignoring Kenobi’s open-mouthed stare. When it was apparent that she wasn’t going to be waking up immediately, he got to his feet and pushed open the door. “I’ll return in a moment,” he murmured, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t disturb the little Rodian. “Don’t touch anything, Kenobi.” He turned and left the cockpit, carrying Ganodi with him.

Kenobi just sat there looking blankly at the door for the few minutes that Grievous was gone. Of all the things he had seen in the galaxy, what he had just witnessed might very well have been one of the strangest.

Grievous returned shortly, and promptly turned to the same compartment he had dug his cloak out of earlier. He rummaged around for a moment before drawing out a small box, which he plunked down on the dashboard of the ship before settling back into the pilot’s chair. He checked a few of the monitors for the system, but finally looked up to glare at Kenobi. “What are you staring at?”

Kenobi flashed him a cocky, if confused, smile. _“‘Greeva’?”_

He shrugged. “It is just what she ended up calling me. I suppose it is an easier way of saying my name.”

This time Kenobi could not stop himself from laughing. “No, that’s not it. _Greeva_ is a Rodese root word for both ‘father’ and ‘uncle’.”

Grievous simply stared at Kenobi, then tilted his head in a twitch that might have been another shrug. He turned his attention to the navicomputer and plugged in a series of microjumps. “I doubt we are being followed, but altering our course would still be wise.”

Kenobi frowned. Alright, so obviously that line of conversation was closed. “...Anything I can do to help?”

Grievous sighed in exasperation and shook his head. “You need to shut up and stay out of my way.”

Kenobi raised his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay.”

Grievous returned his focus to the computer, but it was only a few moments of silence before Kenobi couldn’t resist breaking it again. “...I should thank you for bringing me along, you might have actually saved my life.”

Grievous snorted. “Don’t remind me.”

“Well, even though I cannot forgive you for killing as many Jedi as you have, I can at least appreciate that you rescued Ganodi. You seem to genuinely care for her. That’s definitely a surprise.”

Trying to ignore Kenobi was obviously futile. Grievous popped open the box that he had dug out of the compartment and pulled out a small repair kit. He began treating some of the minor damage he had sustained in the firefight, but he scoffed at Kenobi’s words.

“It was a _war,_ Kenobi. People are killed in war. And I am a warrior. I do not skirt my duty or my pride as a warrior by sparing my enemies.”

“...Fair enough.”

Reaching across the dashboard to shove the opened box towards Kenobi, Grievous gestured to its contents. “Now is the time to patch yourself up if you need it.”

Kenobi reached for the box. “Agreed.” He had only sustained a few blaster burns from some near-misses, but he might as well slap a patch or two on. As he healed himself, he glanced back up at Grievous. “Do you have a plan for what you’re going to do now?”

Grievous eyed him with careful suspicion before nodding slowly. “…I have been in sporadic contact with some remnants of the Separatist fleet. They are working on consolidating their scattered forces, and there might be the possibility that I could regroup with them if they manage it. But… at the moment, it is just a matter of staying one step ahead of the Imperial forces, simply to stay alive.” He tossed his repair kit back into the box. “I have been performing some one-man sabotage just to slow them down, to give the other Separatists time to form some kind of structure, but it is difficult to do on my own. Particularly since I must also ensure that Ganodi stays safe. I am sure you have noticed already that she tends to find trouble.”

Kenobi nodded. “I am… well, I suppose I am in a similar boat, so to speak. Although I do need to get back to Tatooine as soon as I can. I left because of the rumors of a massive metal saboteur, and I can only assume they were talking of you.”

“Indeed. What is on Tatooine?”

Kenobi inwardly flinched. Shouldn’t have said that… “I, er. I have a promise to keep there. Albeit from a distance. I’d rather not say more.”

Grievous tilted his head to one side, but did not press the matter. He rose to replace the box back in its compartment, then settled back in again and flicked on the holomap of the galaxy. He focused it in to the Outer Rim, and slowly the stars and systems at the edge of Hutt space winked to life. “Tatooine, you say? Hm. It is not that bad of a place to hole up for a short time. Jabba the Hutt is there, and he could prove a decent employer for a mercenary in the meantime. I know several former Separatist allies that have entered under his employ. And I know no rumor of my survival would reach the Empire from there. Not any that they would believe, at any rate.” He tapped the map, making a rough plot of a hyperlane route. “Though if I am taking us to Tatooine, I would make one stop before we arrive there.” His finger hovered over another system, and its label appeared as the map focused in.

Kenobi squinted, then startled. “Florrum? _Hondo?”_

Grievous released a chuckle that sounded just as much amused as sinister. “And why not? The Empire has come down hard on pirates, and Hondo Ohnaka has not been spared the scrutiny. I do not know if his small fleet has survived intact, but depending on how bad things are we might actually end up with another passenger.”

“You intend on taking him with us? To Tatooine?”

Grievous nodded. “I hear rumor that he had been sheltering a pair of fugitives that had personally offended the new Emperor. I do not know the details, but if my suspicions are correct then they are old enemies of both you and I. As is Ohnaka himself, of course, but Ganodi claims him as a friend. Because of all of our current circumstances, we _all_ may be potential allies. I find I am willing to take the risk.”

Kenobi allowed himself a tentative smile. “You have already taken it with me, after all.”

Grievous glanced up from the map to meet Kenobi’s gaze. “Indeed.” He rose from his seat and took a step towards the door, but paused. He turned and extended one hand, hesitating for a brief second before he placed it slowly on Kenobi’s shoulder.

“Time will tell whether that risk was worth taking.”

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I was going to continue this but since the likelihood of that ever happening are next to nothing, here's what I'd had planned - 
> 
> Of course now they're going to Florrum to pick up Hondo, who just also happens to be sheltering Maul and Savage (yeah he totally survived because I hate it when my fave characters die ok), and then it's off to Tatooine where Grievous will be on retainer as a mercenary for Jabba and NATURALLY they're going to run into Bane, and also Fett too, because of course Bane took him under his wing. Maybe Ventress too because she totally didn't get fridged and hey maybe she still talks to Ahsoka every now and again.
> 
> I JUST WANT EVERYONE TO BE FRIENDS, DAMNIT


End file.
